Vacuum-creating instrument



March I 1 1927.

E'gl.

F. V. WINTERS VACUUM CREATING INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. 19. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ulllllllli 1 March 1927 F. v. WINTERS VACUUM CREATING INSTRUMENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 19. 1 924 2t 8 3 Z3 v r, H .67& J 1 5 a l M m J m N N I m J m a Hm 4 a m u H m L 1 J H H z R z 1 I m v N i I i, I m i v \w\. [J M w I Invezior:

Mai'h 1 1927.-

' F. V. WINTERS VACUUM CREATING INSTRUMENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb.19. 1924 Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

UNETED STATFS FREDERICK V. WINTERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VACUUM-CREATING INSTRUMENT.

Application filed February 19, 1924. Serial No. 693,847.

This invention relates to means for producing a vacuum or approximate vacuum in preserving jars and for hermetically sealing said jars to retain the necessary rarefied air therein for preserving their contents.

A special object of the invention is to provide means for absorbing or assimilating the air from the interior of a preserving jar into a chamber of much larger capacity, said chamber being in the nature of a cylinder in which a piston is movable for gradually increasing its capacity and thus withdrawing and absorbing the air from a receptacle surrounding the jar and from said jar simultaneously. The invention also contemplates the use of a receptacle for closely. enclosing the jar, said receptacle communicating with the cylinder or absorbing chamber, and means for automatically admitting atmospheric air to said chamber or cylinder and to said receptacle for instantly closing and hermetically sealing the jar after the necessary or desired degree of rarefaction'of the air therein has been attained.

Another object is to form the receptacle for the er in separable sections to facilitate the placing of the jar therein, and to provide means for excluding air at the joint between said sections duringthe vacuum cre ating operation. Other objects will appear as the description proceeds.

The invention will be first hereinafter described in connection with theaccompanying drawings, which constitute part or this specification, and then more specifically defined in the claims at the end'of the description.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters are used to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views Figure 1 is an elevation of a vacuum creating instrument constructed substantially in accordance with this invention, part of the absorbing chamber or cylinder being broken away to show the piston therein arranged at the upper end of its. stroke.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same showing the positions of the parts during the vacuum creating operation, the piston in the absorbing chamber or cylinder being arranged at a point just before atmospheric air is admitted to said cylinder for hermetically sealing the jar.

, Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing the OlstOn in the absorbing chamber or cylinder arranged at a. point where atmospheric air is admitted to said cylinder, and the ealing valve of the jar is seated.

Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line IVTV of Figure 3-, and

Figure 5 is a detailed broken elevation of the absorbing chamber or cylinder which is arranged below the jar receptacle.

The absorbing chamber or cylinder 1 may be made of sheet metal or other suitable material and has cylindrical side walls 2 and a closed top 3 the c'entral'portion of which is raised to form a cylindrical extension 4:. The top ci -said extension 4 is perforated at 5. A plurality of brackets 6 are secured to the lower edge of the cylinder 1 for fastening the same to a suitable supporting surface, not shown, screws 7 shown in Figures 1 and 4, being passed through said brackets for that purpose. At diametrically opposite points in the side walls or" the cylinder 1 vertical slots 8 extend upwardly from the lower edges of said walls and terminate at a distance fronrthe closed upper end of said cylinder, as clearly shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5.

The receptacle for the jar is made in two cylindrical sections, the lower section 9 being fitted with an air tight joint about the upward extension i on the cylinder 1., The upper end of said lower section of the receptacle is bevelled or curved inwardly at 10, Figures 2 and 3, 'to guide the lower end of the upper section 11 of said receptacle into place on said lower section 9, thereby removing all danger of injury to the gasket 15 and providing for an easy placing of the upper cylindrical section 11. Said upper section 11 of the receptacle has a closed upper end 12 and a flared lower end portion 13 adapted to fit around the upper end portion of the lower section 9. Said flared lower end portion of the section 11 has an inwardly facing annular channel 14 formed therein to hold a gasket 15 which is formed with an annular groove 16 in its outer face. The

outer walls of the channel 14 are perforated at 17 to permit air to enter said channel opposite the annular groove in the outer face of the gasket for tightly pressing said gasket around the upper end portion of the lower section 9 of the receptacle during the vacuum securing operation. The jar-enclosing receptacle is made to closely fit around the jar so that only a comparatively small amount of air will have to be absorbed in the cylinder 1 from the space between the jar and receptacle before the air will be drawn out from the interior of the jar and absorbed in said cylinder during the vacuum, securing operation.

The jar constitutes the subject of acompanion application filedon the same date this case, so that no claim is made herein to the jar. It is thought proper, however, to here give a brief description of the jar which ma y be made of glass or other suitable material and preferably has straight cylindrical side walls 18 andan arched bottom 19 of reinforced or thickened material. The mouth of the jar is externally threaded at 20 and the interior alls of said inouthare tapered or inclined at 21 to reinforce the upper end portion of the jar. A cover 22, which may also be made of glass or other suitable material, has a cylindrical depending port-ion 23 to fit in the mouth of the jar, and an outwardly extending marginal portion or tlangeQd to overlap said mouth. A gasket 25 arranged between said flange 2 1 and the top face of the mouth or upper end of the jar, and said gasket may be formed with a groove 26 in its upper face for causing a more secure seating of the inner and outer edgesthereof upon the butting portions or surfaces of the mouth of the jar and around the depending portion 23 of the cover when the jaris scaled. A central rceess 27 is formed in the upper surface of the cover 22, and a tapered passage 28 leads from the central portion of the bottom of said re ccss through to the undersurface of the cover. A sealing valve or gasket 29 is housed in the recess 27 and has a tapered depending lug 30 adapted to fit in and close the tapered passage EZSwhcn the jar is sealed. Said alve 29 is normally arched, as shown in Figure 2, in which position the lug 30 is raised so as not to close the tapered passage 28. The valve remains in this arched position during the vacuum securing operation, and when lllZlDOSpllBllc air is admitted to the jar-enclosing receptacle, said valve is flattened outso that its lug 30 will close the tapered passage 28, as shown in Figure 3. The external threads 20 around the mouth of the jar are to receive a screw cap which is to be applied after the jar is removed from the receptacle. Said cap is not shown in this application but is included in the comtl is panion application for the jar referred to above.

An inverted U-sha ied frame 31 bridges the cylinder 1 and jar-enclosing receptacle, and has its lower ends fastened at 32 to the same supporting surface as that to which the brackets (i on the cylinder 1 are fastened. Another inverted U-shaped frame 33 also bridges the jar enclosing receptacle and is arrangedbetween and in line with the arms of the frame 31. The lower ends of the frame 83 have inwardly bent horizontal portions 3i ext ending through the vertical slots 8 into the lower portion of the cylinder 1 where they are screwed at as to the bottom of a piston 23b. Said'piston is preferably made in two sections 37 and 38 secured together by one or more screws 39 and between the marginal edges of which the gasket 40 is securely clamped, the outer edge of said gasket being foldeddown around the lower portion or section 3? of the piston so asto make an air-tight joint with the interior surface of the side walls of said cylinder abovethe slots 8. The upper section 38of the piston has a centralupward extension etl adapted to fit in and substantially fill the raised portion l at the top of the cylinder 1 when said pistion is fully raised.

A screw 42 is swivcllcd at 43 in the horizontal upper portion at oftho inverted U- shaped frame 33, and has screw connection at with the horizontal upper portion i6 ofthe inverted U-shapcd frame 31; The up per extremity of the screw 42 isprovidcd with a squared terminal portion 4L7 adapted to receive various means for operation by means of which said screw may be rotated for raising and loweringthe frame 33 with respect to the frame 31.

lVhen the frame 33 is fully raised, as shown in Figure 1, the piston 36 is at the upper end of the cylinder 1, and it is then that the jar is placed in the receptacle and inclosed by fitting the upper section thereof over the lower section thereof, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and El. The screw 42 is then rotated in the proper direction to lower the fra1nc33 which causes the p'Jton 36 to move down in the cylinder 1, thus withdrawing the air from the interior of the jar-enclos ing receptacle and from the interior of said jar, and absorbing said air in the ever increasing space within the cylinder above the iiston, see Figure 2. This withd 'awing and absorbing of air from the receptacle and jar continues until the gasket -10 of the piston passes below the upper ends of the vertical slots 8 in the walls of the cylinder 1, whereupon atmospheric air rushes into the cylinder above said gasket, passes from said cylinder into the janenclosing receptacle through the perforations 5, and acts upon the upper surface of the jar cover and sealing valve 29 to hermetically seal the jar, as shown in Figure 3, and hereinbefore explained.

It is obvious that the size or capacity of the cylinder or absorbing chamber 1 may be varied so as to provide for creating any desired degree of vacuum in the jar after absorbing the air in the space between the jar and its enclosing receptacle. This variation in the capacity of the cylinder 1 may be effected either by increasing its diameter or lengthening its upper portion above the ends of the slots 8. It will be noted that after atmospheric air has been admitted to the cylinder and jar-enclosing receptacle the upper section 11 of said receptacle may be easily removed from the lower section 9 thereof, to allow the jar to be taken out, because the pressure on the interior and exterior of the gasket 15 will then be equalized.

I claim:

1. A vacuum creating instrument comprising a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, a cylinder communicating with said receptacle and having slots in its walls, a piston in said cylinder, and means for moving said piston extending through said slots, for withdrawing air from the jar and receptacle and absorbing it in said cylinder, said slots in said cylinder being positioned to be uncovered by the piston at the proper pointin its movement for admitting atmospheric air to hermetically seal the jar.

2. A vacuum creating instrument comprising a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, a cylinder communicating with said receptacle and having slots in its walls, a piston in said cylinder and operating means for said piston extending through said slots, the movement of said piston serving to with draw air from the jar and receptacle and absorb said air in said cylinder until the piston reaches said'slots, whereupon further movement of the piston by uncovering the slots will admit atmospheric air to the cylinder for hermetically sealing the jar.

3. A vacuum creating instrument comprising a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, a cylinder communicating with said receptacle and having slots in its side walls, a. piston in said cylinder, an inverted U- shaped frame bridging the instrument and having its end portions extending through the slots in the cylinder and secured to the piston, a fixed inverted U-shaped frame arranged over the first-mentioned frame, and means for moving the frame which is attached to the piston with'respect to the fixedframe for actuating the piston in the cylinder to withdraw air from the jar and receptacle and absorb it in said cylinder, said piston being adapted to subsequently uncover the slots in the cylinder, whereby at mospheric air is admitted for sealing the J 4; A vacuum creating instrument comprising a receptacle for enclosing a preserving a1, a cylinder communicating with said receptacle and having slots in its side walls, a piston in said cylinder, an inverted U- shaped frame bridging the instrument and having its end portions extending through the slots in the cylinder and secured to the piston, a fixed inverted U-shaped frame arranged over the first-mentioned frame, and

a screw having threaded engagement with one of said frames and swivelled to the other frame for moving the frame which is attachd to the piston with respect to the fixed frame for actuating the piston in the cylinder to withdraw air from the jar and receptacle and absorb it in said cylinder, said piston being adapted to subsequently uncover the slots in the cylinder, whereby atmospheric air is admitted for sealing the ar.

5. In a vacuum creating instrument, a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, said receptacle consisting of a fixed lower section and a removable upper section having its lower end portion flared to fit over the upper end portion of the lower section, said flared portion of the upper section of the receptacle having an inwardly facing channel therein, and a gasket arranged in said channel, said channel having means for admitting air therein on the outer face of the gasket for causing the latter to make an air-tight joint with the overlapped portion of the lower section of the receptacle when air is withdrawn from the latter.

6. In a vacuum creating instrument, a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, said receptacle consisting of a fixed lower section and a removable upper section having its lower end portion flared to fit over the upper end portion of the lower section, said flared portion of the upper section of the receptacle having an inwardly facing channel therein, a gasket arranged in said channel and having an annular groove in its outer face, and said channel having perforations therein opposite said annular groove for admitting air thereto for producing an air-tight joint between said gasket and the overlapped portion of the lower section of the receptacle when air is being withdrawn from the ar.

7 A vacuum creating instrument comprising a receptacle for enclosing a preserving jar, said receptacle consisting of a fixed lower section and a removable upper section having its lower end portion flared to fit over the upper end portion of the lower section, said flared portion of the upper section having an inwardly facing channel therein, a gasket arranged in said channel and having an annular groove in its outer face, said channel having perforations therein opposite said annular groove for admitting air thereto for producing an air-tight joint between said gasket and the overlapped portion of the lower section when air is being Withdrawn from the jar, a cylinder communicating with said receptacle and having slots in its Walls, a piston in said cylinder, and o -*rating means for said piston extencing through said slots, the movementof said piston serving to withdraw air from the jar and receptacle and absorb said air in said 

